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Othol
Planetary Data This planet is one of the coldest inhabited worlds, so cold that even beings adapted to frost abundant planets are unable to survive in it, as this planet has a completely different composition than most terrestrial bodies. This celestial body is far beyond the carbon lifeform habitable zone of it's star, being a planet mostly composed on methane, ice and nitrogen. It has been theorized that it might be an old moon of a gas giant that was flung away from its parent body aeons ago. Othol is a very cold and chemically different analogue of a normal terrestrial planet. Blanketed under a dense atmosphere that stops most of the sun’s energy, the surface is covered in a mostly global liquid hydrocarbon sea, with a large continent made from clay like solid methane and water ice, with occasional spike like iron deposits sticking out of the crust. The ocean is thick with hydrocarbon molecules, and has frequent hydrothermal vents spewing even more chemicals into the liquid. The continent is mostly barren of life, its environment too harsh for nearly all lifeforms to survive. However, the thick chemical soup that is the ocean is the perfect place for life to thrive. Feeding on microbes that in turn eat the hydrocarbons in the liquid, numerous aquatic fauna make their home in the sea, their chemical composition vastly different from any other due to the environment they evolved in. Inhabitants The sapient Otholians are no exception compared to the other animal species on the planet and live in the methane sea. They’re long creatures with a large cone-like head, ending in a purple fin which they use to swim. However, they are capable of propelling themselves by spewing liquid from their teeth-rimmed mouths located underneath their head and surrounded by three retractable and dexterous tentacles. They have a single, large eye with a cross shaped pupil, specialized in seeing through the hydrocarbon sea. These beings lack a skeleton, and are able to squeeze themselves through tight spaces such as cervices or holes. Despite their environment, Otholians have formed a remarkable civilization. Residing in shallow seas near the continent in characteristic spoked wheel cities, they have made up for their inability to use fire or oxygen by exploiting natural hydrothermal vents as well as using many cold analogues of most of the technology found on other planets (such as purifying iron ore through chemical reactions instead of smelting). They even explored their local system using fuel electrolyzed from the water ice they extract from their frozen soil before first contact. Otholians seem to lack gender, and have an equalitarian society centered around a republic, as well as having no prejudice against aliens -quite the opposite, their government was very eager to join galactic society-. However, these beings die shortly after giving birth to thousands of offspring, which are then put through rigorous examination to determine which of these has desirable traits while the others will be killed and/or eaten as a delicacy. Otholians justify this behavior by defining it as a measure against overpopulation and their evolutionary nature. This does not stop various races from being wary of these newcomers to galactic politics. Category:Homeworlds